These are heady times for online sellers of health, personal care and beauty products. Indeed, eMarketer forecasts that U.S. retail ecommerce sales of these product categories will surpass $53 billion this year, which represents an increase of 18.6 percent compared with 2018. This makes health, personal care and beauty products the second-fastest growing category among the categories eMarketer tracks. The food and beverage category is the fastest-growing in online sales, according to the research firm.

eMarketer senior forecasting analyst Cindy Liu said health, personal care and beauty products “lend themselves well to ecommerce because you don’t have to worry about perishability, and they’re often replenishment items that can be re-purchased with one click.” She added, “You also don’t need to visit a retail store to see and touch the products because you know what you are getting every time you buy.”

Sales growth of these products is being driven by several factors, “beginning with the fact that there’s a lot of room for it,” according to eMarketer. The research firm estimated that slightly more than 10 percent of total retail sales of health, personal care and beauty products are made online. By comparison, such categories as consumer electronics and toys and hobby purchases have about 39 percent and 32 percent, respectively, of sales through online channels in 2019.

In addition, eMarketer noted that the increase of social shopping and commerce has spurred growth in ecommerce sales. A February report from social media metrics firm Shareablee found that health and beauty content lends itself well to sharing, commenting and “liking” on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

“And it’s not just the billion dollar brands like Kylie Cosmetics and Glossier—there’s a whole cottage industry of emerging direct-to-consumer [D2C] brands in the beauty and personal care space that are leveraging targeted social ads and influencer marketing to accelerate growth,” Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst, said in the firm’s recent report.

eMarketer predicted that, in the future, more brands will sidestep traditional retailers or online marketplaces and launch a D2C platform in the health, personal care and beauty categories.